{"id":344964,"date":"2026-06-03T16:17:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T16:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/344964\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T16:17:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T16:17:16","slug":"jeff-rosen-appears-headed-for-fifth-term-as-santa-clara-county-da-the-mercury-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/344964\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Rosen appears headed for fifth term as Santa Clara County DA \u2013 The Mercury News"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen appeared headed for a fifth term Tuesday night, holding a commanding early lead over Daniel Chung, the employee-turned-critic<\/a> who turned years of internal conflict with Rosen into a second campaign to unseat him.<\/p>\n

\"DistrictDistrict Attorney Jeff Rosen speaks during a press conference at the Santa Clara County Crime Laboratory in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, May 28, 2026. Tuesday, he appeared headed for a fifth term after garnering a sizable lead in the primary election. (Shae Hammond\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rosen, who was backed by police and public safety unions and the vast majority of prominent elected leaders in the region, had garnered 60% of the county\u2019s vote as of late Tuesday night \u2014 representing 19.3% of the potential vote total \u2014 versus Chung\u2019s 39.8% share.<\/p>\n

If Rosen\u2019s lead holds above 50%, he will avoid a November runoff. Unlike statewide races in California, county contests can be decided outright in the primary when a candidate wins a majority.<\/p>\n

In a statement sent to campaign supporters Tuesday night, Rosen thanked his family, staff and endorsers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will continue to be a strong and loud voice for public safety, for police officers and investigators, for prosecutors, for crime victim advocates and for criminalists,\u201d he said in the statement. \u201cPublic safety is priceless and I will protect it and our residents like a lioness guards her cubs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosen has spent most of his prosecutorial career running the largest district attorney\u2019s office in Northern California. Under his leadership, the office has become a state leader for its use of red-flag laws<\/a> and championed the escalation of charges against reputed fentanyl dealers linked to fatal overdoses<\/a> and parents whose neglect is alleged to have caused a child\u2019s death. Last month, Rosen\u2019s office secured the county\u2019s first-ever murder verdict against parents<\/a> whose child died from fentanyl exposure and ingestion due to their recklessness.<\/p>\n

\"DanielDaniel Chung, a prosecutor in the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, ran to unseat his boss, Jeff Rosen, in Tuesday’s primary election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chung, whose latest electoral run was seeded when he was a surprise runner-up<\/a> in a three-candidate 2022 primary \u2014 which Rosen won outright \u2014 did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

He was once a rising prosecutor in Rosen\u2019s office, and that changed most visibly in 2021 after Chung wrote an opinion piece published in The Mercury News<\/a> criticizing criminal justice reforms. But he did not run it by his chain of command, and combined with other internal disputes, Rosen over the years twice moved to fire Chung.<\/p>\n

What has unfolded is a yearslong legal and political clash in which Chung has pursued free-speech litigation<\/a> and was reinstated in arbitration<\/a>, so he technically remains employed as a county prosecutor. But that was not without some cost: Rosen has banned him from trying cases or working for the office, creating an extraordinary scenario where Chung was free to devote his time to build a grass-roots support network and prepare his second run for office.<\/p>\n

Chung sought to galvanize Rosen\u2019s critics with strategies including amplifying unfavorable outcomes like the recent forced recusal of the DA\u2019s office<\/a> from the prospective retrial of a group of pro-Palestinian activists charged with vandalizing offices at Stanford University.<\/p>\n

But ultimately, the support for Rosen \u2014 through his prolific high-profile endorsements and corresponding fundraising advantage \u2014 along with the historical strength of incumbency in this countywide office, appear to have carried him to re-election.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.<\/p>\n

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